Track Your Ratings

Everyone has experienced the shock or joy of receiving the ratings a month or two after the rating period ended, but few can recall exactly what transpired in the market – at their station or a competitor – that may have affected the numbers. How do you deal with the book when it comes in?

Arbitron advises Program Directors keep a daily diary of programming and market events, competitive changes, and station marketing. This system tracks what your station did during the sweep and reviews what your competition threw at you. Use The Lund Consultants’ State of the Station survey to compare specific market and station activities to the various time frames of the sweep. Review all contests and promotions. Which ones worked well? Which promotions had the desired effect on cume or TSL? You’ll see if a competitor’s contest really affected the cumulative audience or if special programming helped extend TSL with this tracker.

The Lund State of the Station helps PDs accurately document what occurred in their market during the ratings sweep.

While it’s best to complete this review while the ratings are being conducted and programming awareness is fresh, doing it now is better than waiting until the ratings arrive. This State of the Station survey can be totally customized … and may be your most useful programming tool.